Abbreviated
by Cookirini
Summary: Fallen stars do not always remember their lives in great detail. Hence, in the end, her life is only remembered in bits and pieces, and it is short and sweet...and most tragic. Movie based.


The trees would have begun to bloom this time of the year. Of them, the star anise would always bloom the most brilliantly, the brightest reds coming out. It was as if they were on fire.

I remember walking down the grand boulevard of the grand city of my youth. I cannot recall the name, or the streets. All I saw were the anise blossoms, all of different colors and sizes, blooming in front of me.

My favorite was, naturally, the star anise. It was my father's favorite. My father was the only person I ever loved in my life. He reminded me of love, and peace, and hope.

And of the injustice and hatred on our world. We were vassals to the hated one, she of the red hair and red eyes. A devil, we called her. The princess of the olive blossom, whose fragrance overpowered the anise of our world, even though we were a race of giants, and hers was merely human. Tribute of our precious anise went to the cursed planet every year.

Yet no one fought back. There was another way my people dealt with the problem.

"Illycia." My father would tell me. "The Dream Hole that resides in the Pantheon is very previous to our people. It belongs to all of the world, not to one person. We use it to forget our troubles. You, too, must only use its power to forget. Forget the darkness in your heart...forget the injustices the people of the other worlds do to us. Promise me that."

"I promise, father."

My father's words always comforted me. He was the star in my life.

He died when I was young. I never saw him again.

---------------

I met my mentor when I was ten. The Guardian of the Star Anise, she called herself. A rebel cloaked in black, an upstart with no face to show the world. She would always preach in front of the steps of the Pantheon, where the Dream Hole was placed.

"We should not waste the Dream Hole on simply forgetting our pasts!" she would preach every day, without end. "We are strong, while our neighbors are weak right now. Let us instead use the Dream Hole to absorb the energies and powers of the weak, so we may emerge victorious as the leader of the system and stop the oppression!"

No one listened to her impassioned pleas. Too violent, too upsetting. Many thought that way of the Guardian, who had a long history of apostasy. One hand on the Dream Hole could have ended it for her, but no one knew why she chose not to live in blissful ignorance, instead living the life of a witch.

I was one of those doubters, at first. I had lost my father, and I wished to forget him. I wished to send my sorrow to oblivion. That day, I went to the Pantheon, hoping that the Dream Hole would wash away my sadness and bring me happiness.

"Come under the banner of the Iron Staff, my child, and lift the veil of oppression from the eyes of the people." Those bright eyes that glowed under the black hood left an impression I would never forget. "Do not fall for the timid tricks of the weaklings."

I turned my head away and walked into the great stone building. I wanted to forget, not to fight. All I had to do was approach the Dream Hole, and place my hand upon it...

It was only a moment. As I felt my memories disappear, I suddenly saw my father. For one moment, I had all of my memories of him. But then, without warning, they began to slip away...all I had had was him, and even he was leaving...

That was when the power of the Dream Hole _went into me_.

I cannot begin to describe it. It was both terrible and beautiful at the same time. I felt as if holding on would give me power, more than I had ever imagined. If I had been wiser, I would have held on, and fought my memories being drained.

Instead, I jerked my hand away from the pulsing Dream Hole, and ran outside of the Pantheon, scared of what had happened. I ran until I had no more breath, and then, I collapsed onto the ground, my tears the only comfort I had.

That was the first, and last, time, I lost any of my memories to the accursed Dream Hole.

---------------

My father had told me that his experiences with the Dream Hole had been sweet and wonderful. Everytime he had tragedy in his life - his parents' death, my mother's death, his own impending fate - he would go to the Dream Hole and erase them from his mind. In his mind, he had peace.

But for me, it was a nightmare. It was pain, and terror. It was a crime to allow people to do that to themselves. That my father died in ignorance was unforgivable.

That was why I sought the Guardian myself, on a cold night, all alone. It was only me and her when I approached and offered my services.

"So, child." I bowed to the figure in the black cloak as she spoke. "You wish to join me."

"I want to fight." Looking at my hands, remembering the power that had gone through me that moment. "I want to avenge my father."

"Is that so..."

The eyes glowed underneath once more as I rose. A hand extended to me, a hand cloaked in black and red. Reluctantly - for, as a child, I had many complicated thoughts – I reached out and grabbed it.

"Very well." With her other hand, she took out a star anise blossom, and pressed it onto my chest. "Repeat this. I swear my life to the cause of the Dream Hole."

"I swear my life to the cause of the Dream Hole..."

"I will work in the name of the Iron Staff."

"I will...work...under the name of...the Iron Staff..."

I gave out a cry at this, for the star anise was burning into my chest. The smoke poured out from underneath, searing straight into my heart. I did my best to complete the oath, but soon, I lost consciousness, and fell to the floor. I was, after all, still a child.

-------------

When I woke up, the searing pain was still in my chest. I pressed my hand there, only to feel the star anise blossom on it. It was affixed to my body, my soul, and nothing could remove it.

"Welcome to your new life." The Guardian's eyes bore into me, but I stood my ground. "Welcome to the resistance."

--------------

The Guardian of the Star Anise, my teacher, she was a strong woman. She was more than just a witch - she was a fighter, a beacon of hope. She fought the forces of the creatures who smelled of olives, even fought the ruler that oversaw them. When our world was defeated, her face had been disfigured, destroyed. She hid away, plotting revenge.

"The only way to destroy injustice is through power." At this, she would show me her staff. "Once, the Dream Hole had been a source of our power, and we absorbed the energy of our enemies to fuel our magics. Now, this Iron Staff is the last talisman of our true past, the truth of our great power. It holds the key to reviving the Dream Hole and its former glory. But I am too old, to maimed, to possess its full power. For one to access the power, one must be strong in mind, in body. In soul."

I felt, in telling me, she was appointing me as her true successor. After all, she had affixed her sign onto my heart; I took her words into my heart, as surely, I thought, she had taken me into mine. It would be many years of training, in order for me to become the sword of vengeance.

But I was still young. I still had some innocence of the world; there were things I wished to experience, even as I trained day and night to become stronger. Indeed, even as I was learning how to do things, when I was sixteen, I fell in love...

------------------

His name was Bajiao. His eyes were the brightest red of anyone's, his hair, white as the snow. I met him when I came to a small town, far removed from the capital of my childhood, where few people had been able to make the journey to the Pantheon. By then, I had become the Guardian's adopted child, and I spoke for her whenever I could, defending her and her power.

I was shy around him when we talked, at first; I had never met another man other than my father; I had never been interested in any men. But in that time, I began to feel for Bajiao, and he was certainly fond of me.

The attention given to me was not unwarranted. I was certainly a sight to look at; my own red eyes were bright with youth, my black hair long, and ironed straight, my skin whiter than even my Bajiao's hair. My looks attracted many suitors despite the Star Anise on my chest, but only Bajiao saw past my outer beauty.

"It's true. The tyranny and oppression of the Osmanthians has gone too far." We sat together under the stars as I spoke, that first night we were together. "Even here, the influence is felt. Here, in the isolated countryside, this is where the anise for tribute is cultivated, and then sent to the princess of our conquerors."

"My father was a farmer before the war." Bajiao turned to me, his earnest eyes yearning for help. "Now, though, he can barely make anything. There is not enough food here for everyone, and yet those who do not go to the Pantheon - those who wish to change things - are considered traitors..."

"We live in a society of forced ignorance," I returned. "Is it not just, then, that my mistress has taken up a relic of our glorious past to vanquish the world's ills and restore righteousness?"

"Your mistress..." Bajiao chuckled at this. "She is a hag."

"She is a wise old woman." I felt indignant at this. "You shouldn't judge her in such a way."

"She is old." He smiled. "I would rather follow someone who has much more vitality. Someone whose youth would give us hope."

"What do you mean?"

"...Someone...like..."

At this, without warning, I felt his lips on my cheek. I gave a gasp, and before I could push him away, he had already sprinted off, back to his village.

We spent several weeks there; I spent as much time as I could with him. While we filled up on supplies, and on potential followers, I spent as much time as I could with him. He was one of the few things in my life I felt anything for...anything other than anger, or the indignant realization of my people's inadequacies.

The day I left, I gave him a small star anise blossom. He gave me a red veil.

"For your hair." He had sewn it himself for me. "To cover you when its too bright."

I wore it whenever I could. For I would not see him again for many years, and all I would have was the smell of his hands, that lingered within the folds.

-----------------

I would lose the happiness, the innocence I possessed, when I met Bajiao, soon after we left him.

We started to bring more people to our cause, and this caused some measure of alarm for the oppressors from the olive-tainted star. They sent enforcers to train our own people to attack us; the injuries we sustained were too many to count. The core followers - myself included - were jailed many times, and beaten for our presumptuousness.

At first, all we had to show for it were scars. My once beautiful body was soon endowed with cuts and bruises; my legs were so badly scared that I wore long skirts in shame. But soon enough, it was as my mentor had predicted. People began to tire of the Osmanthians. People began not to forget, and stayed away from the Dream Hole.

The Guardian, attracting more followers, more people who refused to forget, began to teach us powers forbidden to normal people. She taught us how to absorb energy from things - the ground, the sky, the water. And then, people.

It was only to me that she showed me how to take energy from people. The Dream Hole was the most effective way to drain a person's soul, but other incantations and spells could work as well. Though I feared using this power for some time, she would encourage me as often as she could.

"This power I am teaching you is nothing to take lightly," she would almost hiss at me. "I would not teach you if I did not believe you to be my scion. Such power must be used when it comes to revolution...you must show the ignorant masses what can happen when they sit back and do nothing! Show them how worthless their lives have become, even to themselves!"

Her words were self-fulfilling for me. The more I saw of my planet, the more I came to despise the people upon it. I came to despise life itself, and I began to despise even my master's own followers. For many of them, it was not their cause; it was merely a phase to them.

Not for me. The star anise was affixed upon me. The pain that bearing it brought was nothing I could forget. And my anger grew, as the unwillingness of the people to change grew. The more I began to see the cause as hopeless, and the more I began to wonder if, perhaps, it was not my mentor who would be the one to solve the problem which faced our people.

It was then I committed my first act of murder.

-------------------

I had not expected it to come. I did not think it would start such a chain of events. But when it happened, there was no turning back for me...for anyone.

I was alone that day. All around, the puny Osmanthian force had gathered, and they certainly ruled the village I was in. Their small size meant nothing to my fellow giants; to them, the invaders could have been a thousand feet tall.

_A disgrace._

I was walking down the street, when suddenly, I found an entire cadre of soldiers at my feet. Along with them were several other traitors, who were walking alongside me, trailing me until I was cornered. Only then did they strike.

"Her!" They all cried. "It is her. The woman bears the sign of the Star Anise Gang!"

The traitors fell on me, as did the Osmanthians. I was surrounded; I was being punched, kicked, and shot at. The blood was leaving my body, and my breath was becoming shallow. There was no hope, no way to escape.

Unless...I could kill.

My anger surged within me. The indignation, the pain, the years of seeing how cruel my own people were, in seeing how eager, how stupidly willing they were to forget and waste the power of the Dream Hole...I exploded.

By the time I came to myself – regained my control – the only thing standing in front of me was the anise blossoms. Even they were drooping, wilted from the surge of power that drained them. It almost made me go insane, once I realized what I had done, when I saw the flames and ashes at my feet.

And yet...it felt _wonderful_.

-----------------

The road to destiny could not be stopped then. I fled – I was still reluctant to take charge of my destiny. I went to the one person I thought I could trust. The one person who I thought understood.

The minute I came to her, and saw her eyes, the reality of my situation began to sink in.

"Illycia." She looked at me. "So...you did it."

"Master...I..." I shook my head. "I didn't..."

"You meant it." A chuckle came from her lips, one that still made me, even in my descent, shudder. "Everyone who kills means to kill."

"How did you..."

"I see it in your eyes." She turned away.. "That you have finally killed. How many?"

"...I...400."

"Excellent."

"Excellent," I repeated angrily. "You make it as if I did something good in killing."

"Aah...but you did."

I gasped as I heard this. They were not the words of a kind and just woman. They were not the words of a woman who was the savior of my world. They were the words of another traitor, another blow to my own beliefs in the people I thought I loved.

"Don't you see?" She faced me, her eyes glowing. "There will always be people who will be under the spell of the Dream Hole. That is the beauty of it. No matter what we do, there will be people who will always desire to taste oblivion. To think only about their wants, and to forget everyone else's pain..."

I could only turn away from these words, not willing, at first to face the reality I was being given. I couldn't. Yet, no matter what I did, I had no choice.

By that time, I believed in those words as well. If I did not, I would not have killed.

_There will always be people...like that..._

"That is why the weak must be sacrificed." The older rhetoric from before was now made crystal clear to me. " So that the Dream Hole can sustain the desires of the strong. So that a strong leader may lead our people to victory against our enemies...so that our power can be felt around the galaxy...That is what we want...what we always wanted...and desired"

"No."

I turned to her, and without any thought to what I was doing, I ripped off the hood of the cloak that hid her face. There it was, for the first time. I saw everything. The burnt, ridged cheeks, the sunken eyes, the twisted mouth.

"Illycia-!"

"That was what you had wanted." I stared her down. "Only for _you_."

All the time, subconsciously, I had agreed with her beliefs. But I had never acted on _my_ desires until that moment.

"You...!"

I knew full well the price of betraying my master. I was not blind to the fact that she had killed before. But that was before I, myself, had killed. Before, I had been afraid of her, and what she would do.

Once one has killed for power, there is no turning back.

"NO!"

I acted quickly, as she charged the Iron Staff. Surely, I was younger, stronger. She had always mentioned that only one at the peak of their strength could access the full powers of the Iron Staff. In my mind, I had always wondered...perhaps, if it was not her who would access the great power of the talisman...

I touched the base of the rod just as it had been fully charged.

"**AAAAAAAH!**"

The staff glowed bright red, and it was my master – not me – who was forced to let go. Her hands burned until they were black from the power; she collapsed on the ground, nursing herself from the wounds, and looking up at me. Her expression was that of shock.

The shock of seeing the monster she had created.

"You only wished to rule the world with your inferior power." I felt the power of millennia past surge through me as I picked up the Iron Staff in both of my hands. Any inhibition I had felt before, I had no need for anymore. "You cared nothing for my future. Now, though..."

I saw my mentor's eyes widen as she tried to come towards me. She held out her hand, in a desperate attempt to get her precious possession back. But it was for nothing; by the time she was within reach, she was gone, her ashes scattered to the wind.

"...It is time." My heart hardened to all those that I had once loved, living or not, I lifted the Iron Staff to the sky, calling upon the ultimate power that had been hidden for so many years. "It is time to act..."

---------------

The vengeance of the Iron Staff was swift and complete.

The ground rumbled underneath my feet as my small army went through, creating a path of destruction on our way to our ultimate goal. The Pantheon lay in the distance, and the closer we came to it, the more souls we absorbed into ourselves, and the more powerful we became.

I could see the people flee in terror ass I approached the city of my youth. The fools who squandered their lives in hardship against the truth, finally fell at my feet, the flames of my power laying waste to all I saw. I felt nothing as I killed; for me, the people of my world were nothing but spiders to be squashed.

Finally, I came to the great prize. The Pantheon, and within, the Dream Hole. Like an empress, I strode into the building, setting my eyes upon the jewel. My followers immediately fell to my side; the power I held brought them to order. They knew better than to question me, the successor to the Guardian.

"In the name of justice in this galaxy..." Cutting open my palm, I let the blood drip onto my newly-acquired talisman. "The power of the Dream Hole is now mine."

I felt victory assured as I thrust the Iron Staff, drenched in my blood, straight into the center of the Dream Hole. It glowed brightly for a single instant, before it turned blood red. I, too, began to glow, and I felt the power of the world seep into me, all of the souls, all of the energy is had taken from times long since past. It was exhilarating, and I could not help but laugh at how fate had turned the servant on the fringes, into the master of everything.

Just as I completed the ritual, I heard a voice echo into my head.

"Illycia!"

I turned nonchalantly; it was all well that I did not recognize who it was at first. He was dirty, disheveled, nothing like I remembered him. Years had passed since our first, and last, encounter; he clearly remembered me. I, however, had pushed him to the furthest parts of my mind by that time.

That moment, even he betrayed me, and I had no time for him, after all.

"Illycia!" My former lover dropped to his knees at the sight of my new, terrible form, his eyes filled with tears. "What...what have you done..."

I turned to him, raising my staff as I did. I could feel the power flowing into me, felt the hatred give me strength I had never imagined I could possess. For, at last, the Dream Hole had an owner.

At last, the Dream Hole would be put to proper use.

"The weak...must surrender their energy to the strong." With a single touch to his forehead, he burst into flames, and next to me, I felt the Dream Hole grow bigger, turn blacker with each passing moment. "I'm sorry, Bajiao."

That was the moment I, Lady Badiane of the Iron Staff, was born. That was the moment all trembled before the Iron Staff.

That was when I decided the fate of all the planets I would encounter.

----------------------

I remember the day the Black Hole completely absorbed my world.

There was barely even an explosion when it happened. There was nothing, simply a vacuum in space. When I raised my staff, the Dream Hole lifted. The planet was gone.

"At last," I murmured. "Leguma, set the course for our next planet."

"Yes, my lady."

There was no room for people to interfere in my world order. Those who were close to me – my father. My mentor, my lover – had all been weak. They did not know what the Dream Hole could do. Only I know now, and only I can be trusted with this power.

The Dream Hole is a part of me now. And a part of me says, _Destroy_.

Destroy everything in my way. I am not strong enough yet, to take on the great enemy, the lady of the olives. But I will be.

I _will_ be.

------------------

The Earth is such a tiny, disgusting place. Filled with people with weak hearts. Even those who hold magic in their hearts are weak. Of all the planets I have encountered, my heart holds no love for this world, and the Dream Hole, black as night, shall devour it.

Only one. Red eyes stare at me. Just as I defied the master, she defies me.

"Are you crazy!" she shouts at me, a puny, tiny child. "What you're speaking of is crazy! You'll never win!"

"Oh...?" I am casual about this child; she is special, her energy is different. But she could be no real threat. "And why do you say that..."

"Because Sailor Moon is on Earth!"

No matter how I try, I cannot help but feel my blood boil at this name.

------------------------

"Hand me that child!"

This is it. Me and her, face to face. I do not fear a child the size of an Osmanthian. Fear is an emotion I forgot about a long time ago. I only feel anger towards this child, who dares to defy me.

She refuses to give me the child. Foolish girl.

"Damn you!" This is when I shall show her my true power. "Then you shall burn, as you wish!"

Burn in an eternal flame, as Princess Fireball will. Olive incense burning in hell, red eyes looking straight into the heart of the enemy, always looking. The red veil from as boy who screams my name in death...

Always looking into the blade of the sword. When one murders, there is no turning back.

Foolish girls, you are all murderers. Remember me, when we meet in hell.

"Moon Gorgeous...Meditation!"

----------------------

The trees would have begun to bloom this time of the year.

Of them, the star anise always blooms...


End file.
